a.txt b.txt c.txt 1.txt 2.txt 3.txt abc.txt work.txt</span>
As you can see, the last Linux command you issued requires the <u>least</u> amount of keystrokes (more efficient).
As shown in the diagram on the right, when the ls command is issued with a filename expansion symbol (like *), the Bash shell searches for files that match the symbol (in this case all filenames that end with the extension ".txt") and expands the argument using the wildcards with<br>those filenames as separate arguments. You do not see this happen in the shell,<br>it is a process that occurs "behind the scenes".
Below are the most common Filename Expansion symbols and how they are used for filename expansion:
